


The Man with No Name

by TotalFanFreak



Category: Dark Harbor (1998)
Genre: Dark Harbor, Diners, Drabble, F/M, Gen, Implied Slash, Light Smut, Norman Reedus - Freeform, Philosophy, Reader-Insert, Reader-Interactive, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 12:05:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,875
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11207718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TotalFanFreak/pseuds/TotalFanFreak
Summary: Working through the summer to earn some extra money, you learn through the late shift of an anomaly that comes through the diner.





	The Man with No Name

**The Man with No Name**   
**[Yay! So I decided to do a Dark Harbor drabble, so it’ll be Young Man x Reader]**

You were sitting at the counter, the clock reaching close to midnight as you skimmed your textbook. Being off for the summer you came back home to the Harbor, staying in your old room at your parents. Doing school term you were a full time freshman going on sophomore, and what savings your parents made for college was levied with scholarships and work studies. So now with what little money you scrounged from the leftover scholarship was gone for the season you were broke and had needed a job upon returning. Your goal was to use what was needed but save a small bit to take with you when you returned in the fall.

And you had succeeded, landing a job at the little diner that’s stood since the town was established. It was nice, small and cozy, and the staff was kind. You made decent tips and found a few friends to go out with, all in all, it had been a lucky break. This week however one of the women who worked nights bottomed out, needing to leave for a family emergency leaving the place shorthanded. There were plenty of girls to work daytime but hardly anyone stepped up for the graveyard shift. People seldom came in so there were no tips, you were working there alone with only the cook for company, it was creepy and boring and no one ever volunteered to do it. And because you were the fledging you were nominated to do it.

So here you were brushing up on communications, English, and math when the bell dinged above the door. Lifting your head you were greeted with a guy near your own age, walking to the corner booth without a glance in your direction. You didn’t know him, but you were aware of who he was. Your coworkers all talked about him. He lived on a private island near here with his lover, a longtime resident; it didn’t bother any of you that they were both men that wasn’t the real scandal in it. Nor was it the fact that there was a huge age gap for them, you were told the older man had been married, and that the two men were involved during that time. The wife, finding out, became devastated taking her own life.

It was sad if it was true, couldn’t the guy just divorce his wife if he wanted someone else? Just put your shit on hold until the papers were signed, instead of hurting someone that’s supposed to trust you. You shook your head; it wasn’t any of your business. And had been told he did come in from time to time that all he’d want is coffee, staying in the diner staring into the cup until dawn. Getting the mug and the coffee pot you went over to his table to pour. He had a cigarette lit, flicking the ashes into the tray with his arms crossed on the table – he looked in thought, so you tried to be quiet when walking away.

“I didn’t give my order.”

You turned back brows raised. “I’m sorry, what can I get you?”

“Where’s the other girl?”

You shifted on your feet. “I’m afraid she had something come up, she won’t be back for a week or so.”

He hummed in response.

“Were you ready to order?”

“I’m fine for now…you’re not wearing a nametag.”

You looked at your chest realizing you hadn’t put it on. “Yeah, I guess I figured no one would be in this late.”

His lip twitched on that. “Care to share it?”

“Oh, Y/N, what about you?”

He just smiled, holding the reply back like it was a secret. Soon his gaze went back to his coffee, staring blankly while the steam rose. Feeling awkward you retreated, going back to your seat , putting your own attention back into your studies.

He always came in at night, and the routine became enough that it was almost comforting. He would sit there, drifting off in space, while you went over whichever book you thought to grab that evening. It was an easy silence, the type that lulled you. But you had started to feel bad, maybe he sat all the way over there because he thought no one wanted him close. From the way he acted he seemed lonely and withdrawn, maybe he was trying to get away from something.

“You know you don’t have to sit alone back there.”

His bewildered gaze turned to you.

_You’re a dumbass, of course he knows. He can sit wherever he wants to._

But you were shocked when he gathered up his mug to take a stool at the counter with you. Silence passed a while longer, him tapping his fingers on the side of the glass.

“What have you been reading?”

You smiled, showing him your western civilization history book. He looked at it blankly, before turning back to his coffee.

“Yeah, I’m not too big on philosophy either. My last professor said I’m too technical minded. But I had to take ethics so now I’m stuck having to take logic.”

He shrugged. “I like philosophy.”

Your lips parted as you looked at him, giving him a small smile. “Maybe if you’re not too busy you could tutor me then. I may be too stubborn though.”

“I’m more of someone to bounce ideas off of.”

“We can do that too if you’d want.”

He waited, biting his lip like he wasn’t sure what he should say. “I like the allegory of Plato’s cave.”

You searched your mind for the reference. “That’s where the people only see the shadows on the walls, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Prisoners are tied to a cave walls so that they can only look forward, behind them is a fire and an opening to the cave. Things go by – birds, people, things like that and it creates shadows on the walls. The prisoners would take turn guessing what each shadow was.”

You only remembered the shadows, and that your first impression of the story had been sad. “I can’t remember what happened in it, they escaped I think.”

“Yeah, one did. Seeing the new surrounding they realize that everything they thought was their true reality was wrong. He’s shocked and scared but then sees the sun and associates it with life going back to the cave to tell the others. They refuse to believe him threatening to kill him if he kept saying what he saw. So he leaves them there.”

“See, I’m lost. What’s it mean? That we each view the world in different ways and are stubborn to conform to someone else’s idea of it?”

He shrugged. “Could be. I take it to mean that we’re blinded. That what we see firsthand isn’t at all what we’re really getting, and when we find that out, find either the lie or the ugliness sometimes it’s too late. We just accept what we have and don’t try to change.”

It was a personal answer, like he was coming to terms with something similar to that. “Wow, you should be teaching.”

He snorted, a smirk on the edge of his lips. “Doubt that. Someone like me wouldn’t be a good teacher.”

“And why not?”

He shrugged, facing his coffee, but you could see behind his bangs the red in his cheeks. “I’m illiterate.”

“Oh. I’m sorry if I offended you, with the book, and everything. Does it mean you can’t learn? Because if you could I’d be fine with helping with that, you’ve already been a help with this philosophy mumble jumbo.”

He wanted to smile, but held it back. “I can spell and read small words. I’ve been trying to build up my vocabulary, but sometimes I lose it. Like whatever I memorized that day disappears overnight.”

Maybe that’s why he stayed up.

“I do write sometimes. I think of something and have other people to write it for me.”

“What do you write?”

“Poetry mostly.”

“If we see each other again, would you let me read some?”

He looked perplexed. “If you really want to I can bring it.”

“I’d like that.”

He never came, well, he might’ve but your hours had changed over. You had left a note, yet there wasn’t a reply. It was weird but you felt the loss of his presence, gotten used to the quiet, and the soft spoken words. It was busy today, and you were juggling too many tables. Plus, between the running around you had to clear off the vacant tables since the bus boy had quit.

“Y/N! I have another customer for you.”

You groaned, feeling a creak in your neck that would be throbbing before the day ended. Your coworker looked at you with sly smirk on her face.

“He’s cute.”

You rolled your eyes as you took your pen from behind your ears. “What can I get for you?”

“Coffee.”

The faint voice pulled your eyes up, seeing the man from the night. “Hey.”

He smiled shyly but happy. “Hey.”

“I didn’t think you came out during the day.”

He shrugged a shoulder. “I found the cure for vampirism…I missed you.”

You stuttered. It was an odd thing to hear from someone you barely knew. He took your silence as a hint to explain.

“It’s calming around you, yet you’re funny at the same time. I like it. I don’t get a lot of calm lately.”

It was a compliment but you wondered in what way you were funny. Then your mind started to go to Goodfellas references and stopped. Luckily you were a humorous and not funny looking funny.

“I kind of missed you too, the quiet for sure.”

He chuckled lightly looking at the rambunctious families at their tables. “No, it’s not peaceful in here at all right now.”

Neither of you talked much, but he would come in a few times a week during the day. Sitting and drinking coffee near the window, taking in small bouts of conversation with you when you were able.  
Then, you weren’t sure why or how it happened, but one afternoon had asked you to come outside. You didn’t think anything of it until you made it behind the building, and was shoved against the wall beside a dumpster as he kissed you. It was a fervent clashing, and when the surprise went away you met the intensity, fusing your lips to his.

When you responded his hands moved, sliding along your sides to the buttons on your blouse, revealing the lace of your bra underneath. He broke away, letting his eyes linger on your exposure before moving the cups under your bra to let his mouth latch onto the prize. You weren’t sure what was happening, letting the instinct of sensation guide you while he rolled your nipple between his teeth. You groaned feeling him urge you to hike your leg around his waist, causing your skirt to lift, as he made hurried movements to free himself. Feeling him press against you, he stopped, pulling away to look at you. You wish you could peer in his head, know how you looked to him right now, were you beautiful, irresistible, alluring or were you just an easy pick? Either way you moved against his erection, his eyes closing from the action. Taking charge you pulled his head back to you, tracing your tongue over his lips until his mouth opened.

Your brassiness pushed him forward, sliding aside your panties to line his weeping cock with your entrance. You nodded, urging him, wanting him to hurry with it. He smiled somewhat shyly before easing himself in. Each inch had you digging harder into his shoulders when he finally was settled fully inside. You heard him panting, getting ahold of himself before starting to move. It was careful, almost gentle, yet you wanted it with the same animistic hunger as his initial kiss.

“Harder.”

You saw his chest quiver, breath hitching by your request. Moving your leg up higher, he placed his arms on the wall, caging you in when he started plunging in faster. You tried to keep your mewling down, not wanting to draw attention and soon you had to put your head in his neck to keep yourself quiet. Your walls clutched him while he bruised your insides, he put his hand down between you, rubbing your clit to hurry your climax. It worked, feeling your abdomen jerk as your walls spasmed around him making him spill into you. You both let your breathing go back to normal, him putting your leg down and helping to fix your shirt.

“I’m sorry it was short. I haven’t…I haven’t been with a…in a while”

He hadn’t been with a woman in a while? Was that what he was getting at?

“It’s okay. It was more than okay, though the location could’ve been better.”

He choked out a laugh, running his hand through his hair. “Yeah, I’m sorry about that as well. I was just going to kiss you, but I –“

“Like I said it’s okay. Does this mean I get a name from you now?”

He bit his lip, contemplating, before shaking his head.

“Oh, come on, after that I can’t have something to call you.”

He shrugged. “There’s a lot of power in a name. I like have the advantage…and the mystery.”

“So what, I’m supposed to call you ‘no name’?”

“Most people I meet just call me, Young Man.”

You croaked, head falling back. “That’s not going to work, we’re pretty much the same age, you might be older than me. Does that just make you, ‘Man’ then?”

He shrugged again, smirking this time.

An idea hit you. “Oh! I know! I’ll call you Manny whenever you come in.”

He laughed. “If you like.”

You smiled, nodding. “I do…I should, um, probably head back in though. I don’t want to lose my job.”

“I’ll be around, Y/N.”

“I’ll be here, Manny.”

He chuckled, walking off. You watching until he went around the corner. What the fuck did you just do? You could’ve asked what he wanted – was he after a friend with benefits thing? Did he like you as more than a friend? He had to, didn’t he, he said he wanted to kiss you. And then what about his lover on the island? Did you really want to get in the middle of something like that?

Maybe it didn’t matter, cause after that Manny didn’t put his hands on you. Instead coming in as he usually did, he was quiet during daytime visits, but you would take up on the night shift more to talk with him. Conversation ranging from philosophy to cooking to favorite things. Then he stopped coming, you waited, he could’ve been sick. Something could’ve come up. But a month passed and you decided it had been a onetime quickie and he tried to make some kind of amends by sticking around for a while. You tried to put it aside, lesson learned experience, and you had money to take back with you to school. You had packed your things from your parents going back to the diner to turn in your apron and retrieve your last check.

“Y/N.”

You jumped, hand leaving the door when you heard his voice. Turning to the source you wanted to gasp.

“You look awful.”

You shouldn’t have said it out loud but he did. His clothes were rumpled, his eyes sleep deprived, hands fidgeting, but what you meant were the scratches and bruises on his face.

“What happened?”

He shook his head. “I – you remember the cave? About how some refused reality?”

You nodded.

“I was done pretending. I didn’t want to accept what wasn’t real anymore.”

Your brows knitted. “What do you mean?”

He licked his lips, afraid. “I’ve done horrible things, Y/N. I thought I was doing it for the right reasons but I…”

“What were the reasons?”

“I don’t know – love, safety, comfort. But it wasn’t real. He didn’t do it for that, he did it to get rid of a problem. Maybe I did too, I don’t know anymore. All I know is I want to get away from here. Start over and try to forget.”

You saw his eyes glistening and you went to him, gripping his arm in assurance, the touch making him look back to you.

“I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye. You might be the first person…I’m probably still pretending but I like to think that you cared.”

“It wasn’t pretend, Manny. I care. I’ve been worried about you, but I thought you might’ve wanted to stay away from me.”

He laughed, no humor in the tone. “Our luck, right?”

You smiled. “I don’t know, if we both care we can always see where that goes. We could end up being good for each other. Never know Manny, could be something more

He snorted. “You can’t love a man with no name.”

“That not true. Believe it or not I already have.”


End file.
